urban matters

Street Workshop of the City. Rivne

In the green park downtown, surrounded by dense trees, there’s a small wooden stage with benches—a simple yet functional and important feature in city life. This stage was built as part of the «Street Workshop of the City” project. In small towns, there is often a lack of spaces for urban discussions, which are vital for city development. Unique to the city, the project is situated under the open sky in Lebedynka Park. Lebedynka, which can be translated as “swan lake”, is a small lake in the city center, around which the life of the city thrives. It’s a place for gatherings, family walks and various festivals. Nearby, there is also a local history museum and an alley of wrought iron sculptures, all under the natural shade of trees. This space is aimed to reimagine public spaces, promote urban development, culture, art, and foster community engagement, making it ideal for presenting and generating new ideas and projects that will contribute to the further development of Rivne.

Supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, locals from the NGO «Agency for Sustainable Development of the City», the creative team «MOST», the team «WoodPlay» and the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Executive Committee of Rivne City Council developed and constructed this area. The «Agency for Sustainable Development of the City» is a public organization that brings the community, government, and business together for joint implementation of sustainable development projects. The team includes people from various fields: business, culture, art, and social activities, with the aim to create favorable conditions for the development of local communities through the effective public initiatives, social innovations, and creative practices.

«Street Workshop of the City. Rivne» features a static stage with lighting, a ramp for accessibility, seating for 50 people, and paved surrounding areas. The initiative emphasizes the importance of community and local government collaboration and aims to replicate similar hubs throughout the city and region.

The project has united a thematic community and activated discussions on urbanism and architecture in Rivne, featuring video lectures on successful urban and architectural cases from other cities like Kyiv, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil.

The COVID-19 lockdown did not stand in the way of the organizers. In addition, the «Urban Online Forum Rivne» was held, where current urban spatial projects and important topics of development and improvement of the city were presented.

A two-day urban workshop «Urban Workshop Rivne – a course for modernization» was also held in Lebedynka Park, whose participants, in addition to architects, urban planners, and designers, were public activists, students, psychologists, landscapers, cultural managers, and historians. The existing condition was studied, and new ideas for the transformation of the park were developed.

The project “Street Workshop of the City. Rivne” is a unique magnet and platform for the creation of new trends and meanings in local urban space. All activities are aimed at popularization, study, planning, and creation of the city jointly by the community and local authorities. The creation of similar hubs in the city and region is useful for city communication and a general understanding of priority areas of community development.